PRESS RELEASE : £4 million to fund free nursery places in 15 areas [April 2011]
The press release issued by the Department for Education on 1 April 2011.
The trials will test out ways of making sure that enough nursery places and staff are available in the right areas so that every disadvantaged two-year-old can benefit. They will also look at how 15 hours a week of free early learning and childcare for two-, three- and four-year-olds could be offered more flexibly to help support parents juggle work and family life.
Children’s Minister Sarah Teather said:
“High quality early education is the foundation of a child’s healthy development and future success at school and beyond. It’s simply not good enough that children from poorer families are less likely to access good quality early education than their wealthier peers – even though they stand to benefit the most.
That’s why I’m pleased to announce that 15 local authorities have been provided with funding to look at how best to deliver the free entitlement for the two-year-olds that need it the most. We hope that local authorities across the country will learn from these pilots before the scheme is rolled out nationally to all disadvantaged two year olds in 2013.”
In addition, from today a new, fairer and more transparent funding system for nurseries and other early years providers will be implemented in all local authorities. The Early Years Single Funding Formula will require local authorities to fund providers by the number of children rather than places. This will mean that the funding follows the child and won’t be wasted on empty places. It will help ensure that nurseries are making the best effort to fill their places by attracting and encouraging more families to take up free nursery education for their children.
To make sure that funding is focused on supporting children from disadvantaged families who will benefit most from nursery education, every local formula must also include an amount of money to specifically target the most needy children.
